Rides from the Readers: 1980 Fiat 124 Spider

Hagerty readers and Hagerty Drivers Club members share their cherished collector and enthusiast vehicles with us via our contact email, tips@hagerty.com. We’re showcasing some of our favorite stories among these submissions. To have your car featured, send complete photography and your story of ownership to us at the above email.

Today’s featured car is a 1980 Fiat 124 Spider. Styled by Pininfarina’s Tom Tjaarda—who also penned the DeTomaso Pantera during his time at Ghia—Fiat’s attractive roadster slotted beneath Alfa Romeo’s top-down offering in both price and performance. The trim little Fiat Spider, first introduced in 1966, came with a four-cylinder, DOHC powerplant all 17 model years, with displacement fluctuating between 1500 and 1995 cc. Most U.S.-spec roadsters got 1756-cc or 1995-cc engines with a single Weber carb and, in 1980, sported fuel injection. Since Fiat withdrew from the U.S. in 1983, Pininfarina marketed the same car from 1983–85 as the Azzurra.

This particular 1980 Fiat Spider belongs to Jeff Pfeiffer, who bought it 11 years ago. It isn’t Pfeiffer’s first Fiat fling, though. He parted with his first Fiat 124 Spider, a ’72, when the kids came along; then he heard of a friend who was planning to sell a red 1980 model with 78,000 miles. He couldn’t refuse. Pfeiffer’s had this Spider for 11 years now and crossed the 100K mark two years ago. “It’s still going strong,” he writes. Here’s wishing you and the Spider many more miles.